141A.8 - CARE PROVIDER NOTIFICATION. - Iowa Statutes

141A.8 CARE PROVIDER NOTIFICATION. 1. a. Notwithstanding any provision of this chapter to the contrary, if a care provider sustains a significant exposure from an individual, the individual to whom the care provider was exposed is deemed to consent to a test to determine the presence of HIV infection in that individual and is deemed to consent to notification of the care provider of the HIV test results of the individual, upon submission of a significant exposure report by the care provider as provided by rule. b. The hospital or clinic in which the exposure occurred or any other person specified in this section to whom the individual is delivered shall conduct the test. If the individual is delivered by the care provider to an institution administered by the Iowa department of corrections, the test shall be conducted by the staff physician of the institution. If the individual is delivered by the care provider to a jail, the test shall be conducted by the attending physician of the jail or the county medical examiner. The sample and test results shall only be identified by a number. c. A hospital, institutions administered by the department of corrections, and jails shall have written policies and procedures for notification of a care provider under this section. The policies and procedures shall include designation of a representative of the care provider to whom notification shall be provided and who shall, in turn, notify the care provider. The identity of the designated representative of the care provider shall not be revealed to the individual tested. The designated representative shall inform the hospital, institution administered by the department of corrections, or jail of those parties who received the notification, and following receipt of this information and upon request of the individual tested, the hospital, institution administered by the department of corrections, or jail shall inform the individual of the parties to whom notification was provided. 2. a. If the test results are positive, the hospital or other person performing the test shall notify the subject of the test and ensure the performance of counseling and reporting requirements of this chapter in the same manner as for an individual from whom actual consent was obtained. The report to the department required pursuant to section 141A.6 shall include the name of the individual tested. b. If the HIV test results of the subject of the test are positive, the hospital or other person performing the test shall notify the care provider or the designated representative of the care provider who shall then notify the care provider who sustained the exposure. c. The notification shall be provided as soon as is reasonably possible following determination that the HIV test results of the subject of the test are positive. The notification shall not include the name of the individual tested for HIV infection unless the individual provides a specific written release. If the care provider who sustained the significant exposure determines the identity of the individual tested, the identity of the individual shall be confidential information and shall not be disclosed by the care provider to any other person unless a specific written release is obtained from the individual tested. 3. This section does not preclude a hospital or health care provider from providing notification to a care provider under circumstances in which the hospital's or health care provider's policy provides for notification of the hospital's or health care provider's own employees of exposure to HIV infection if the notice does not reveal a patient's name, unless the patient consents. 4. A hospital, health care provider, or other person participating in good faith in making a report under the notification provisions of this section, under procedures similar to this section for notification of its own employees upon filing of a significant exposure report, or in failing to make a report under this section, is immune from any liability, civil or criminal, which might otherwise be incurred or imposed. 5. A hospital's or health care provider's duty to notify under this section is not continuing but is limited to the diagnosis of HIV infection made in the course of admission, care, and treatment following the rendering of health care services or other services to the individual with the infection to which notification under this section applies. 6. Notwithstanding subsection 5, if, following discharge from or completion of care or treatment by a hospital, an individual for whom a significant exposure report was submitted but which report did not result in notification, wishes to provide information regarding the individual's HIV infection status to the care provider who submitted the report, the hospital shall provide a procedure for notifying the care provider. 7. A hospital, health care provider, or other person who is authorized to perform an HIV test under this section, who performs the HIV test in compliance with this section or who fails to perform an HIV test authorized under this section, is immune from any liability, civil or criminal, which might otherwise be incurred or imposed. 8. A hospital, health care provider, or other person who is authorized to perform a test under this section has no duty to perform the HIV test authorized. 9. The employer of a care provider who sustained a significant exposure under this section shall pay the costs of HIV testing for the individual who is the source of the significant exposure and of the testing and counseling of the care provider, if the significant exposure was sustained during the course of employment. However, the department shall assist an individual who is the source of the significant exposure in finding resources to pay for the cost of the HIV test, and shall assist a care provider who renders direct aid without compensation in finding resources to pay for the cost of the testing and counseling.          Section History: Recent Form 99 Acts, ch 181, §12; 2000 Acts, ch 1140, §27--29; 2000 Acts, ch 1154, §13; 2001 Acts, ch 157, §7; 2007 Acts, ch 70, §9